Zionists pushing new Jewish towns to 'balance' Arab population

The World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division is formulating a plan to settle more Jews in the Galilee to achieve a demographic balance.

Middle East

01 Aralık 2013 Pazar 10:30

World Bulletin / News Desk

The World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, which is defined by the government as one of its executive arms, is formulating a plan to settle more Jews in the Galilee to achieve a demographic balance with the Arab population, reported the Haaretz.

In recent weeks, the Settlement Division has contacted a number of planning firms to suggest that they bid on a tender to prepare a development policy document for absorbing 100,000 new residents in the central Galilee, in the area surrounding the Beit Netofa Valley. The division is already advancing government-sponsored plans to erect a number of new communities in the Negev.

The goal of the plan is stated clearly in the letters: To further expand and develop the mitzpim (hilltop settlement) plan of the 1980s, with the goal of “giving expression to Israeli sovereignty through settlement activity.”

The letter notes that the mitzpim plan created a strong network of communities but did not succeed in changing the demographic balance in the area.

According to the letter, the division believes that within existing communities and adjacent to them, new neighborhoods should be built of 700-1,000 units each. The division also proposes abandoning the policy of dense construction in urban areas like Carmiel and Upper Nazareth, and to instead allow the construction of single-family homes until the outer edges of city limits.